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Aedas designs a one-stop lifestyle complex that reflects the historic quality of Yiwu in China

Sited in a city renowned for one of the world’s largest small commodity wholesale market, Aedas-designed The Heart of Yiwu, An 'Urban Living' Plaza in China is set to become a one-stop lifestyle urban complex with a combination of large-scale retail, dining and entertainment facilities, allowing visitors to enjoy shopping, food and beverage, cultural and leisure activities in a single destination.

Yiwu is traditionally a trading city growing along the Yiwu River. The form of the project is inspired by the Chinese character ‘川’, literally meaning ‘a river’. The historic city wall of Yiwu, on the other hand, inspired the façade design. Chinese bricks are used to give texture to the side facing Beiwen Road.

The design by Keith Griffiths and Leo Liu incorporates an outdoor circulation route, which resembles the ancient Chaoyang Gate and its 42 steps where traders in the past passed through every day. Together with the internal circulation route, they bring people to the upper retail floors and the outdoor rooftop platform.

The development will be a 24-hour social, cultural and lifestyle centre, with landscaped squares, outdoor plazas, cultural spaces and pedestrian streets.